Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $26.39, but opened at $27.48. Equinor ASA shares last traded at $27.56, with a volume of 2,160,300 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQNR. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Equinor ASA in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Equinor ASA from a "sector perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets downgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $22.71.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 5.2%

The company has a market cap of $77.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.48. The business's 50 day moving average price is $23.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.85.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $27.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.16 billion. Equinor ASA had a return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 8.49%. On average, research analysts forecast that Equinor ASA will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Equinor ASA Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.304 per share. This represents a $1.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Equinor ASA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equinor ASA by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,732 shares of the company's stock worth $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 24,090 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter worth about $909,000. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new stake in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter worth about $9,043,000. Barclays PLC bought a new stake in Equinor ASA during the 4th quarter worth about $1,120,000. Finally, Folketrygdfondet grew its holdings in Equinor ASA by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Folketrygdfondet now owns 111,466,079 shares of the company's stock worth $2,640,631,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.51% of the company's stock.

Equinor ASA Company Profile

Equinor ASA, an energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, refining, and marketing of petroleum and other forms of energy in Norway and internationally. It operates through Exploration & Production Norway; Exploration & Production International; Exploration & Production USA; Marketing, Midstream & Processing; Renewables; and Other segments.